Weekly Comic Review for 11/14/12
I’ve been having a busy but relaxing vacation so far this week. I am finally getting around to posting these up.
All-New X-Men #1 – Following all the AvX events, Cyclops Emma, and Magneta are going renegade capturing newly activated mutants. To try to put a stop to it, Beast goes back in time to get the original X-men from when they were less jaded as well as experienced. He’s hoping that they can kick Cyclops back on track. On top of everything else, it seems that Beast is going through yet another mutation, one he doesn’t think he’ll survive. I’m not sure why he’s mutating (maybe it’s related to the new mutants appearing) or how he went back in time. I’m really not sure what to expect of this title, how it will go after this initial storyline clears up. As with a lot of the recent new titles, There were multiple covers for the book. There was a regular cover, the previous cover with Deadpool on it too (UGH!), and a “little kid” cover. I picked the latter.
Archer & Armstrong #4 – The duo makes it to the mountain hideaway where the Boon is located. All the pieces have been brought together and it’s up to Archer and Armstrong to stop it. On top of the battle to do this (fighting monks with Hitler mustaches) We get to see a couple other things are brought back from the old Valiant universe, Geomancers and the Eternal Warrior. It’s good to see more of the mythos growing again. There are still a lot more questions about Archer growing too.
Bloodshot #5 – Bloodshot invades Project Rising Spirit. We get inside his head some as he tries to find out more about it himself. What secrets will P.R.S. hold? Guess we’ll have to wait to find out until after Bloodshot gets past the 4 freaks standing in his way. Still a lot of stuff to be revealed about the main characters.
Demon Knights #14 – Meanwhile, back in Hell… The knights start to escape their tortures and gather together to escape Hell. As Etrigan reaches the team, the Questing Queen switches him with Jason Blood. The knights escape Hell into Avalon but it just opens a gate for a 3 way war (the army of Avalon vs. the army of Hell vs. the Questing Queen’s army) with the knights in the middle. We finally get and answer to whether the Shining Knight is male or female too. The answer is… both?!? This should be interesting.
Green Lantern Corps #14 – Rise of the Third Army – Guy Gardner and his team continues to take on the Third Army but he ends up being the only survivor. The Guardians guilt him into turning in his ring. Even with the circumstances, it’s hard to see Guy wimp out like that. Meanwhile, John Stewart follows a piece of Mogo and runs into Fatality who was drawn to the rock as well. Not sure where that pair-up will lead. Honstly, I just want to see this storyline over. 4 months through all the lantern titles and it’s getting old already.
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe #4 – Prince Adam and Teela land on an island where they are captured by Evil-Lyn’s army which includes Man-at-Arms. Somehow, they instinctively know they are father and daughter. I was trying to have hope with this title but after 4 episodes of “amnesiac’s theatre”, I think I’ve seen enough.
Legion Lost #14 – The Legion continue to fight Daggor but since they aren’t doing well, the captain calls on other members of Echo. Oddly enough, this includes Harvest and his crew. The battle keeps going through the issue and Daggor summons a machine which it turns out is the one that messed up Gates. The next issue blurb is “The First to Fall”. Wonder who that will be.
Phantom Stranger #2 – This issue focuses a lot on where the Phantom Stranger fits in the world. Pandora appears and threatens the reality he’s build if he doesn’t help her open the box (tho it looks like skull to me). Plus, he gets a visit from one of Trigon’s sons and a call from Terrance Thirteen (a.k.a. Doctor Thirteen in pre-New 52). To make things even worse, it seems Jim Corrigan (the Spectre) is looking for him too.
Ravagers #6 – Superboy and the Ravagers take a run through their version of the Danger Room before taking a break to get some fresh air as normal people. (I’m not sure how Ridge doesn’t get odd looks.) They get called on a mission though and end up having to fight Windshear and Bright Eyes who it looked like were killed following the breakout. There’s even a cameo from Red Robin due to Superboy being on the team. Not sure why he has to be in so many books.
Team Seven #2 – For the most part, it’s the team versus the Eclipsos. It’s more or less a battle issue but explores the characters in their early days. It’s an interesting dynamic so far.
Thor #1 – This storyline is actually in 3 parts. In olden days, Thor find the head of a dead Indian god. In modern times, Thor answers the prayer of an alien and bring them rain. When tracking down what happened to their gods, he discovered they were butchered too by the same god slayer. Lastly, the Thor of the future fights the god slayer’s hordes as the final Asgardian left.
X-Men: Legacy #1 – Legacy has learned to lock down all the personalities and summon the powers as needed. They use a very interesting mental landscape interpretation of what is going on. He’s been learning to focus himself but the death of Xavier knocks everything loose which causes disaster and we’re going to have to see if he can recover after this or if he’s back to himself. Not sure who else is going to be appearing in this title as it’s named after Legacy himself. There is a brief 1 page cameo by Kitty Pryde and Blindfold.
It was a very interesting mix of books last week. It’s tough to pick a Top 3. I keep looking at titles and see reasons for them not to be in there. After some contemplation, I’m going to go with Archer & Armstrong, Team Seven and X-Men: Legacy. They are probably the strongest of the titles this week.
